Match Details
Match Date	5th Sep, 2010
Opponent	Manly
Result	Win 30-24
Coach	Kevin Moore
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Brookvale Oval
Crowd	15,933
Referee	Shayne Hayne Gavin Badger

For just a moment Luke Patten thought he was going to go all the way, sprinting almost the length of the field to seal a Canterbury victory in the last of his 225 games for the club. In the end it was not the 30-year-old pins that brought him unstuck but the behemoth that is Tony Williams.

''He was like a ninja,'' Patten said, after being blind-sided by the giant Sea Eagles winger and spilling the ball with 90 seconds remaining and the Bulldogs clinging to a six-point lead. Manly would blow that opportunity - a pass from co-captain Jamie Lyon to fullback Ben Farrar was called forward - but would get another chance soon after as Canterbury captain Andrew Ryan dropped the ball on the way out from his line to give the Sea Eagles one final fling as the seconds ticked down.
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Cue Patten again. As Manly winger Michael Robertson set himself for the left corner the veteran No.1 saved the day, barrelling him into touch on the last play of the match. Short of a runaway try there was hardly a more appropriate way for Patten to bow out yesterday, and right in front of the small band of travelling fans on the hill at Brookvale Oval.

''I'm glad it didn't finish with T-Rex [Williams] snapping me in half,'' said Patten, who is joining English Super League club Salford on a three-year contract. ''There was a couple of minutes there I was pretty rattled. I just thought last game for the Dogs, I've just got to suck it up'. At the end I was just pretty lucky to be in the right position at the right time.''

As for the earlier run, when he characteristically slid past a couple of defenders to break free: ''I was thinking 'open spaces' then for a minute I was thinking 'I wish I had fresh young legs like Josh Morris or Benny Barba to get me home','' he said.

Canterbury did not play yesterday like a team making their one and only appearance in September. Far from having one eye on post-season celebrations at Canterbury Leagues Club last night they lifted, throwing a spanner into Manly's plans of a straightforward semi-finals qualification.

Hooker Michael Ennis was the standout, setting up first-half tries to forwards Ryan Tandy and Ryan, then returning late in the match after being knocked motionless by an off-the-ball high tackle from Manly centre Steve Matai early in the second half.

Barba, too, showed just another dimension of his talent in rounding Farrar with wonderful footwork after being released by replacement hooker Blake Green to extend the Bulldogs' lead only two minutes after the break. It was fitting, though, that Patten performed the final act.

''I'm sad about leaving the club and the great mates I have here but I'm also excited about going overseas,'' Patten said. ''I've always wanted to do it. I've got to go over there and prove myself all over again. At the moment I feel about 400; in about five hours I'll probably feel a bit better.''

It was also, of course, the final game of a 307-game career for Bulldogs halfback Brett Kimmorley. ''That's it,'' Kimmorley said afterwards. ''It sort of hit me a bit when we were walking off.

''Maybe I'll be a bit lost in a few weeks when somebody asks me about training and getting ready for next year. But to finish on a high was good. I think the whole journey has been good but just to finish on the last day on a good note was a good thing.''

Manly coach Des Hasler was, understandably, less impressed. ''There was a lot of ill-discipline out there, right across the park,'' Hasler said. ''We had numerous opportunities to put the game away really but we didn't.''

Co-captain Jason King said the Sea Eagles had ''only ourselves to blame''. ''We had everything to play for,'' he said. ''We definitely let ourselves down.''

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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